Pocky Day (11/11/11)

11 November is Wish-Making Day in the US; Pepero Day in Korea, Singles Day in China, and Pocky Day in Japan! Pocky is a biscuit stick coated with chocolate and other flavours, produced by Glico. 11 November (11/11) is named Pocky Day due to its long lanky shape of the biscuit stick. This year (2011), Pocky Day has greater significance, and so my friends and I decided to do something to commemorate this once-in-a-lifetime experience!

11 of us, from 11 countries, gathered at the lounge of Building 11 of Waseda University and waited for the fateful time to arrive. The 11 of us counted down to 11:11am and celebrated the fateful minute with sticks of pockies!

On a more serious note, today marks the 8th month after the 3.11 Japan Disaster.

Even 8 months after the biggest earthquake in Japan, the tsunami and nuclear incidents that followed, the situation in the affected areas still remains far from full recovery. We people living in Tokyo, or other parts of Japan or the world, should not forget the fateful day and the people who have been sacrificed in the cruel hands of nature.

“Carpe Diem” means “Seize The Day” in Latin. We do not know what lies ahead of us, and our future is clouded with uncertainty. That is why we should “seize the day”, make full use of every second of the “present”. This was our message to the people in the affected areas, and also to the people suffering in Turkey and Thailand as well.